Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 71

Sowing Hope for the Hair Loss Community.

“Interns, this is the field where the crops we’ll be selling grow,” Theo announced, leading the interns. He then led them down into the cave’s storage area.

“Four of you interns, empty your sacks. We’re filling them with cherry tomatoes,” Theo instructed.

Plop.

Only one cat immediately emptied its sack as Theo commanded.

“Intern Jeff, who moved the fastest, gets his contract shortened by 10 days!” Theo exclaimed.

“T…Thank you!”

Jeff bowed his head in gratitude. Just emptying his sack as told reduced his contract by 10 days.

“Huh?!”

The three cats, who had been watching, hurriedly emptied their sacks and began filling them with cherry tomatoes upon hearing that the contract period would be reduced.

Sejun smiled, watching Theo from afar. Theo was still a pushover and had no experience managing subordinates. So, he was happily reducing the contract period for the interns who had tormented him in the past, just for following his instructions a little.

Some might think Theo is used to leading wolves. But it’s different. The wolves follow him because they like him. It’s more like they take care of Theo, not the other way around.

“I did well to set the maximum reduction period to 10 days,” Sejun thought.

Sejun thought of reducing the contract period as a way for Theo to control the cats. That way, the cats would have no choice but to listen to Theo to get their contract period reduced.

Sejun had made the contract incredibly long – 10,000 days – so Theo would have plenty of room to reward good behavior and keep the interns motivated for a long time.

However,

“Intern Mark filled his sack with cherry tomatoes the fastest! Intern Mark, contract shortened by 10 days!”

“Intern Eric just answered the loudest! Intern Eric, contract shortened by 10 days!”

The period for maintaining the contract might be shorter than Sejun thought. Theo was noticing even the smallest good things the interns did and rewarding them.

Sejun watched for about 3 hours.

“This won’t do,” Sejun muttered.

In that short time, the interns’ contract periods had been reduced by about 300 days each. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before 10,000 days became 0 days.

Maintaining the contract period for even a week seemed challenging, let alone half a year.

“Representative Theo, can I have a word?” Sejun asked, stepping in.

“Understood!” Theo responded, running over to Sejun.

“What is it? Is it time for Churu?” Theo asked, climbing onto Sejun’s lap.

“…Yes,” Sejun replied.

Unable to say no to Theo’s expectant eyes, Sejun opened a Churu treat and offered it to Theo.

Chomp chomp chomp.

“From now on, Theo, only reduce the interns’ contract period by 1 day,” Sejun instructed.

“Understood!” Theo replied.

Sejun limited Theo’s authority to reduce the contract period to 1 day. And he decided to consult with Sejun when he wanted to reduce it more.

The next morning,

“Chairman Park, I’m off!”

“Sejun, I’m leaving,” Elka said.

“Alright. Have a good day,” Sejun replied.

Sejun saw Theo and Elka off. The cats were divided into two groups.

Oren and the other 3 cats, who had filled their sacks with cherry tomatoes, followed Theo down to the 38th floor of the tower.

The remaining 5 cats filled their sacks with Blade Leaves and Chef’s Soup and moved to the 67th floor of the tower with the wolves. These were special ingredients that grew higher in the tower.

The expressions of the interns moving to the 38th floor of the tower with Theo were bright, but the expressions of the interns going to the 67th floor of the tower with the wolves were dark.

The interns’ expressions were dark because they could only get their contract period reduced if they were with Theo.

As the two groups, each with different destinations, bustled away, the emptiness felt quite large.

At that moment,

Kooeng!

Kooeng approached Sejun.

“The little rascal is trying to comfort me…” Sejun thought.

However,

Kooeng!

[Want to eat a snack!]

Unlike what Sejun thought, Kooeng handed Sejun a glass jar filled with honey. Even though honey jelly enhanced his talents, honey was still the best for Kooeng.

“No! You’re getting too fat,” Sejun wanted to say, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it to Kooeng.

“Alright,” Sejun relented.

Click.

Sejun took out Kooeng’s honey bowl from the kitchen, opened the glass jar, and poured one dollop of honey.

Plop.

Lick. Lick.

“Now, I have to work,” Sejun said.

Leaving Kooeng, who was diligently licking honey with his front paws in the bowl, Sejun began his morning farming.

Today was the day to harvest the corn he had planted before. Sejun began harvesting the corn he had planted in the cave.

Thud. Thud.

While he was picking the blue corn wrapped in green leaves,

“Huh?”

He saw corn with red leaves, unlike the other corn.

Thud.

As he picked the red corn,

[You have harvested Exploding Stamina Corn.]

[Job experience slightly increased.]

[Proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 slightly increased.]

[Acquired 30 experience.]

“Exploding Stamina Corn?” Sejun wondered.

Judging by the name, it felt like it was for combat.

[Achieved the feat of creating a new variety in the Tower.]

[The Tower recognizes your exclusive cultivation rights for the new variety.]

[Exploding Stamina Corn cannot be cultivated without your permission.]

[Job experience greatly increased.]

[Achieved the feat of creating 3 new varieties in the Tower.]

[Rumors about you are spreading in the Food Association.]

“Food Association?” Sejun wondered.

The Food Association was an association that even Theo had never heard of.

Sejun decided to check the corn in his hand first.

[Exploding Stamina Corn]

Corn grown inside the Tower. When heated, the corn kernels explode and swell to dozens of times their original volume.

Consuming it breaks down 30g of fat in the body and increases stamina by 0.5 for 10 minutes.

The effect can be stacked up to 10 times within an hour.

Consuming it makes hair thicker.

Grower: Tower Farmer Park Sejun

Expiration Date: 90 days

Grade: C

When heated, it explodes and swells up? The explosion didn’t seem to mean stamina.

Sejun imagined the corn kernels swelling up. Then, the thing that naturally came to mind!

“Could it be?! Is this popcorn?” Sejun exclaimed.

Sejun hurriedly peeled off the red leaves of the Exploding Stamina Corn. The kernels inside were also red like the leaves.

Pop.

Sejun took out one red kernel.

[You have obtained an Exploding Stamina Corn Seed.]

[Job experience slightly increased.]

[Proficiency in Seed Collection Lv. 2 slightly increased.]

And he took it to Fire Stone and had him heat the corn kernel.

“Be careful. Don’t burn it,” Sejun cautioned.

[Yes! Master!]

A moment later, as Fire Stone wrapped the corn kernel in flames and heated it,

Crack.

A popping sound was heard, and the outer shell of the red corn burst open, and the white flesh hidden inside swelled up and came out.

[Here you go.]

As Fire Stone removed the flames, warm popcorn fell onto Sejun’s hand.

Sprinkle sprinkle.

Sejun sprinkled salt on the popcorn in his palm and carefully picked it up and put it in his mouth.

Crunch.

The savory and salty taste combined with the crispy texture.

“Oh!” Sejun exclaimed, moved by the familiar taste of popcorn he used to buy.

“This is not the time for this!”

The sooner you plant, the sooner you can harvest. One corn kernel now will become a bag of popcorn later.

Thud thud thud.

Sejun collected 199 Exploding Stamina Corn kernels and planted them in the field.

[You have created a large cornfield.]

[Acquired 100 experience.]

“Grow well,” Sejun cheered for the corn planted in the field.

Thus, the crop that would become the hope of hair loss sufferers around the world began to grow on the 99th floor of the Tower.

Day 244 of being stranded, dawn.

Snap. Snap.

The silent twig scouts invaded again.

Thud. Thud.

At Sejun’s request for them to have a chance to grow, this time, Mother Crimson Giant Bear watched from afar, only revealing her presence to the twig scouts.

“Alright, let’s go!!!” Sejun shouted.

Squeak!!!

Kooeng!!!

Shouting, Sejun, Black Rabbit, and Kooeng ran forward.

Tap tap tap.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Black Rabbit and Kooeng, who started from the same place, quickly overtook Sejun and began to defeat the twig scouts. Sejun also had the lowest agility stat.

Whoosh.

Wham!

Crack.

[You have defeated a large twig scout of the Fallen Ent.]

[Acquired 500 experience.]

“It’s a bit sad. Retrieve,” Sejun said.

Sejun, who retrieved the handaxe, ran forward again.

He picked up the torches placed around the area where he had lit a fire for the perimeter, lit them, and threw them at the twig scouts.

Whoosh.

The fire spread to the twig scouts and began to burn the enemies.

[You have defeated a small twig scout of the Fallen Ent.]

[Acquired 25 experience.]

[Leveled up.]

[Acquired 1 bonus stat.]

“Nice!” Sejun exclaimed.

Sejun leveled up and became level 28.

While he was defeating the twig scouts and raising experience,

Ptooey!

Ptooey!

A sticky liquid flew towards the burning twig scouts along with the sound of spitting.

Sizzle.

The fire quickly went out as the sticky liquid touched it.

“What is it?” Sejun wondered.

Rustle. Rustle.

Yellow and purple flowers, about 30cm in size, were hanging on the body of the large twig scout with vine-like limbs and moving together.

[Fallen Ent’s Sticky Flower Attacker]

[Fallen Ent’s Poison Mist Flower Attacker]

The yellow one was the Sticky Flower, and the purple one was the Poison Mist Flower.

“Now it’s flowers?” Sejun wondered.

Sejun became curious about the Fallen Ent, which was turning everything into monsters, from twigs to flowers to fruits.

“Everyone, fall back for now!” Sejun commanded.

Judging by the enemy’s name, it seemed like they would use a strategy of binding feet with stickiness and killing with poison mist.

However,

Squeak!

Black Rabbit easily dodged the stickiness with his fast speed.

Kooeng!

Even if Kooeng was hit by the stickiness, he moved without hesitation. It didn’t affect him at all.

“Right. Only I am weak. Only I…” Sejun muttered.

Sejun checked his combat power ranking once again and threw handaxes to focus on defeating the Poison Mist Flower Attackers so that Black Rabbit and Kooeng could fight well.

Whoosh.

Wham!

[You have defeated a Poison Mist Flower Attacker of the Fallen Ent.]

[Acquired 1500 experience.]

The experience was good.

“Right. I was a ranged character,” Sejun said, comforting himself.

While Sejun was comforting himself and fighting,

Thud. Thud.

The ground began to shake.

“Huh?!” Sejun exclaimed.

Sejun looked at Mother Crimson Giant Bear. Why is she moving?

Roar!

Shaking her head as if to say it wasn’t her, Mother Crimson Giant Bear pointed to the west.

“What is it?” Sejun wondered, looking at the place Mother Crimson Giant Bear pointed to.

“Huh?!”

In the distance, a giant tree 70m tall was slowly approaching.

Thud. Thud.

[Fallen Ent Absorbed the Energy of the Blue Moon]

He overlooked the fact that the Fallen Ent could also absorb the energy of the Blue Moon, just like Fire Stone absorbed the energy of the Blue Moon and grew.

The Fallen Ent was so thick that even if the giant Mother Crimson Giant Bear hugged it with both arms, she couldn’t completely encircle it, and it was much taller. In addition, various monsters were falling from the Fallen Ent’s body every time it moved.

“Can we win?” Sejun wondered, looking at the Fallen Ent and thinking about countermeasures.

-I will help you.

A low-pitched voice was heard in Sejun’s ear.

“Huh?! Who are you?” Sejun asked, looking around, searching for the owner of the voice.

At that moment,

Flutter. Flutter.

The black dragon statue that should have been in the fountain appeared in front of Sejun, its red eyes shining.

-I am the great black dragon Anton Fritani. Eileen’s father.

“Eileen’s father?” Sejun asked, surprised.

-Yes. There is no time, so let’s talk later.

The black dragon statue finished the conversation and hurriedly flew towards the Fallen Ent.

Khaaaaa!

The black breath shot from the black dragon statue’s mouth flew towards the Fallen Ent.